Eppley Airfield (IATA: OMA, ICAO: KOMA, FAALID: OMA) is a medium hub airport three miles northeast of Omaha, Nebraska, in Douglas County, Nebraska. It is the largest airport in Nebraska and is named for Eugene C. Eppley, the Eppley Hotel magnate of Omaha, from whose estate $1.0 million was used to convert Omaha Municipal Airport into a jetport in 1959/1960.[3]

The airport occupies 2,650 acres (1,070 ha) and handles about 75-80 airline flights per day to 16 non-stop destinations.

Several films have used Eppley for a few scenes including the 2002 feature film About Schmidt which included scenes filmed inside and outside the terminal building, and the 2009 feature film Up in the Air which made use of the south end of the terminal building during filming.[citation needed]

The terminal building, opened in 1961, was designed by James C. Buckley, Inc.[4] Concourse B opened in 1970,[5] and it was remodeled in 1986 while Concourse A opened in 1986.[6]

Midwest Airlines, then known as Midwest Express, once had a focus city at Eppley Airfield with flights to Milwaukee, WI, Newark, NJ, Kansas City, MO, Los Angeles, CA, and Washington Reagan; nonstops to Milwaukee and Washington Reagan lasted until the merger with Frontier Airlines in 2010.[7] As of February 2012 Omaha has no international flights. The airport handled more than 4.2 million passengers in 2011. Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines are the first-, second-, and third-largest carriers and serve about 29 percent, 22 percent, and 20 percent, respectively, of passengers.[2]

The airport is northeast of downtown Omaha in east Omaha. Although the airport is in Nebraska on the west side of the Missouri River, it is surrounded on the east, west and south by the state of Iowa: the Missouri River formerly formed an oxbow west of the land that became Eppley Airfield. The river cut off the oxbow during an 1877 flood, leaving behind Carter Lake on a portion of its former course; the Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that though the land cut off by the river's changed route now lay west of the Missouri, it remained part of Iowa. This land eventually became the city of Carter Lake, Iowa.[citation needed]

The North Terminal houses ticketing, baggage claim and security screening for airlines served by Concourse B (gates B11-B20). The airport's largest and third largest operators, Southwest and United, are served by Concourse B along with US Airways.

The South Terminal houses ticketing, baggage claim and security screening for airlines served by Concourse A (gates A1-A10). The airport's second largest carrier, Delta, operates out of Concourse A along with Alaska, American, Frontier, and Allegiant.